Timing Critical For New Business Ventures, IPOs

With about five of every 10 new startup businesses ending on the scrap heap within five years it’s probably safe to assume that business failures happen for many different reasons.

But it’s not uncommon to hear those who fail say timing errors were largely to blame.

Financial astrologer Bill Meridian consistently ranks among the leading stock market timers in the country. He thinks the kinds of timing errors that often befall startup businesses – or occur when owners take private companies public – can usually be avoided.

Meridian has advised companies on incorporation dates, initial public offerings (IPOs) and other strategic timing issues. The founder of Cycles Research Ltd. has been forecasting markets with cycles for 40 years and is the author of Planetary Stock Trading, Planetary Economic Forecasting and The Predictive Power of Eclipse Paths.

It matters greatly how the planets, sun and moon are aligned at the time a business makes a critical corporate move. In the West, the number of businesses making this discovery appears to be growing dramatically in recent decades, he noted.

Meridian says timing errors made by businesses are relatively easy to spot. For example, astrologers were quick to point out where Facebook went so badly wrong when offering its shares to the public for the first time.

Facebook made its initial public stock offering on May 18. Three months later the shares were selling at half their original value.

According to Meridian, the company ignored the most obvious cyclical pattern in the heavens, the lunar cycle, and chose to bring the company public two days before a major solar eclipse. This was a major mistake.

“Events immediately before and after a solar eclipse are important. But events before an eclipse take on the added attribute of being unpredictable and fated.

“In the period prior to an eclipse we are in a shadow, not seeing the complete situation. If one is forced to make a decision or to take action prior to an eclipse, significant alterations in plans will be needed to reach the original objective,” he said.

It’s best to postpone a major corporate decision until the week following a major eclipse, he explained.

There were other problems for the social media behemoth. Astrologer Grace K. Morris says the chart set up for the exact time of the first trade indicates very difficult business challenges, most particularly in the area of financial accounting.

Morris writes the Astro Economics Stock Market Newsletter. The first trade chart for the Facebook IPO indicates the possibility of deceptive practices or at least confusion and misunderstanding, she says.

“There are indications the stock can still be a success but the company will need to work hard to overcome the unfortunate perceptions the public has as a result of its first public trade.

“The problem could have been avoided by picking a better time,” she said.